A vending machine is an automatic machine that sells and dispenses various items, such as food, drinks, or other items including newspapers, cigarettes, electronics, etc. Vending machines are widely used to sell products outside a store, in remote locations, or during off-hours.
To dispense items, vending machines require frequent replenishment. This is particularly necessary in the food and beverage industry where most products have an expiration date. Due to the expiration of products stored and sold via the vending machine, it is important to know the refill quantity and next refill date.
Currently, to restock a vending machine, a driver must visit an existing vending machine, determine what products need to be restocked, return to their truck, and restock the vending machine. This process leads to drivers needing to make unnecessary trips to the vending machine, have too many or too few items to be restocked, etc. This process does not allow for real time tracking of items being sold by the vending machine or dynamic pricing models. Furthermore, because many vending machines are located in remote locations, the vending machines may not be connected to various networks.
Accordingly, needs exist for systems and methods utilizing dual pathways to communicate vending machine data to a backend server, wherein the dual pathways reduce the costs associated with data transfers.